


You Can Call Me Whatever You Want

by delinquents



Series: Edoardo and Eleonora [1]
Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, but not really, incantava - Freeform, moments inbetween, skam italia - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26160013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delinquents/pseuds/delinquents
Summary: Every name that Eleonora has called Edoardo, from the beginning to the end.
Relationships: Edoardo Incanti/Eleonora Sava
Series: Edoardo and Eleonora [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899628
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	You Can Call Me Whatever You Want

**1 - Edoardo**

She hadn't actively looked up Edoardo Incanti after dinner with the girls and had honestly kind of forgotten about it until four days later. His name had been dropped in passing conversations - walking through the school corridors, heading into town with Silvia, literally whenever a mop of curly hair passed through a crowd - but as far as Eleonora was concerned, Edoardo is Silvia's problem, and Eleonora's just here to make sure her friend gets laid.

Until, of course, she's scrolling down her Instagram and his name pops up under someone's photo. It's right there, tucked neatly underneath ' _view all 6 comments_ ' and she really has no idea what drew her to click his username, but suddenly she's staring at his profile on her screen. She tucks her phone closer to her chin even though she's alone in her room, and briefly considers getting up because her reclined position on her bed feels oddly intimate when stalking a boy's online profiles. 

His page isn't what she had expected. The few glimpses of him she's seen in passing, he's held himself with a confident swagger that comes from being used to the stares all the time, that cocky grin permanently pressed onto his face, so sue her for thinking his Instagram would just be a digital version of his ever-growing ego. It kind of is - the odd selfie every now and again, never with a smile but an-almost-bored-but-confident grin, even one with his arm outstretched over his head, bicep flexed a little - but the abundance of group pictures with his friends, two pictures side by side of him with a baby and a toddler, one with a woman she can only imagine is his nonna, really surprises Eleonora.

Her thumb finds its way to click on a selfie of him without her brain giving it permission. The closest she's ever been to him was when their shoulders brushed as they passed between classes. She hadn't been looking at him, can only imagine he didn't even see her, but Silvia had all but melted at the fact that he'd _touched one of us!_ and Ele had looked briefly over her shoulder at his retreating back. Other than that, it was craning her neck over crowds in courtyards when Silvia noticed him and they all wanted to see what he was doing that made Silvia blush so hard. From that far away, Ele had never noticed that he had a smatter of freckles over his nose, or a slight dip at the corner of his lip that looks oddly like a scar, or the way that the chain he wears around his neck sits snugly in the contours of his collarbones. 

She begins to feel too much like Silvia and quickly closes Instagram. 

*

Eva had quickly become Eleonora's best friend since she moved to Rome, and has recently taken to appearing in Ele's room before she's even woken up. Filo had apparently let her in this morning after stumbling up the stairs with her when he got back from whatever party he'd been at last night, and Eva's been scrolling through Ele's spreadsheet for the next radio meeting for the past half hour.

She joins her now, huddled under the covers, legs thrown over Ele's, "Silvia's freaking out about the party tonight."

"Why?"

"She doesn't know if Edoardo prefers dresses or skirts."

Ele snorts into her pillow, "I'm pretty sure he won't care as long as he can get under it."

Eva laughs into her shoulder, then quickly drags Ele out of bed to get breakfast.

*

Silvia's normally a really good dancer, but the girls can see from across the room that as soon as Edoardo's hands found their way to Silvia's hips that her movements become slightly more jerky, like Silvia suddenly had to concentrate on what she was doing. 

"That poor girl," Sana grumbles next to Eleonora, nudging their elbows together and Ele grins. 

Seconds later and they're watching as Silvia's led out the room, hand encased in Edoardo's.

"That _poor_ girl," Ele repeats and Sana muffles her cackling into Ele's shoulder. 

*

She bumps into him a few hours later, just as the girls are rounding up their coats and bags from various closets and corners, except she doesn't really know it's him because the alcohol's been strong tonight and her vision's kind of blurred at this point. He's shrugging on his own coat and she feels his eyes slide up and down her body when his hands settle on her hips to stop herself from tipping over.

"Hi," It sounds amused from his lips, corners of his mouth tugged up in a clumsy smirk. He's drunk, too. She can tell from the slight sway he's adopted as they stand in place, and from the way his eyes are a little hooded and glossy. 

"Hi," Were she sober she'd have remembered he'd slept with her friend not two hours ago, and her hands would have never stayed on his biceps for so long. Except, she's not sober right now and she's about ninety percent sure that if she lets go of him and step away she'd become very well acquainted with the carpet at his feet. 

"Had a good night?" That smirk is still on his face, which only mildly annoys Eleonora, mixed with something that she has to physically stop herself feeling. There's a particularly flirty comment that the Eleonora from six months ago, in another city with another boy, would have happily let slip but suddenly there's a girl at the other end of the corridor dry-heaving right by the door, and Ele rips herself away from Edoardo after recognizing that the girl's clearly Fede. 

By the time she wakes up the next morning, tangled with Eva in her bed, Filo banging around in the kitchen, Ele's completely forgotten about the way Edoardo had bit into his bottom lip as Ele's fingers had flexed against his arms. 

**2 - Eduardo**

She's only mildly embarrassed when she's finally alone that evening, the memory of calling out Edoardo in front of everyone still a fresh topic in the girl's group chat. Even Filo had heard about it somehow. She doesn't regret it, especially when Silvia stayed upset about the clear rejection for the next couple of days. 

Especially when he continued to needle Eleonora into answering his messages and coming to parties through Silvia. It was stupid, arrogant, manipulative and so many other names under the sun, and Silvia didn't deserve to be the unknowing middle-man in whatever game Edoardo was cooking up. Purposely getting his name wrong every time they talk, though, probably doesn't help matters, but seeing the tick in his jaw every time Eleonora stresses _Eduardo_ and he has to correct her is just to fun to stop. 

He catches her coming out of Chemistry one day, a few seconds after everyone else in the corridor had disappeared for the weekend. It's not her fault that the zip on her bag desperately needs mending, or that her History textbook had refused to sit right; and yet, here she is, trapped in an empty classroom with the curly-haired idiot leaning against the closed doors with a self-righteous smirk slapped on his face.

" _Eduardo_ -"

"Come on, Eleonora, one date."

"Fuck off."

Filo's waiting for her at home and the longer she stays trapped in the top floor classroom the longer it's going to take her to get home and the longer Filo will lecture her about proper time management - the same lecture Eleonora's been giving Filo since she was thirteen, and it's really not fun having your own words spun back on you. 

Edoardo clearly doesn't care though. Eleonora's pretty sure he didn't even walk across the room, but suddenly she's right up against the desk she'd been sitting at ten minutes ago, Edoardo right in front of her, arms caging her against the desk and hands gripping the edge. His cologne smells nice, she vaguely registers as he ducks his head down to be eye level with her. There's a cluster of curls falling down his forehead, flirting with the tips of his eyelashes and ghosting against Eleonora's forehead when he leans closer to her.

"One date and I'll stop."

"We both know you won't."

"Well then, one date, and I'll _try_ to stop. Deal?"

"No."

"No?"

" _No_."

If she closes her eyes she can imagine the proximity between them is the same as that boy from months ago, and it's suddenly easier to push Edoardo away from her. The sneers and comments float in her ears, drowns out the sound of Edoardo calling her name as she leaves the room. 

*

Despite her best efforts, she's dragged to the damn party anyway. Silvia's on cloud nine after the invite from Edoardo personally and seems to be ignoring Sana when she points out that technically he invited them all. 

Eleonora spots him first, even though she's not looking for him. The feeling of eyes on the side of her neck gives him away, and she can't muster up enough courage to break their steady eye contact as he leans his arm against his friend's shoulder and takes a long drag of his cigarette. Fede had mentioned something a while ago about flirting with a boy with just their eyes, and Eleonora finally understands what she means by it now. There's a spark in his eyes that she can see from the other side of the roof, and she doesn't need to look at the rest of his face to know he's smirking at her right now.

She refuses to get close to him though. Silvia serves as a good distraction, and so do empty cups when she notices him weave through the crowd in her direction. She doesn't want to be arrogant enough to think he's knitting his entire night around her, but every time she looks up he's already looking at her, and every time he moves it's towards her general direction. 

The only time she can't dodge him is with the damn lantern. In the moment where he pushes it away from them and watches it briefly float away, Eleonora lets her eyes wander after the expanse of his shoulders and down to the exposed skin of his forearms. She can faintly smell the cigarettes he's been smoking tonight and remembers the way he had smelt that day in the classroom - begins to wonder if he only smokes on nights out or just knows how to cover it at school.

"Go out with me," He's saying now, leaning close to her but out of her personal space - probably remembers how she'd pushed him away when the whispers from people out of her life already got too much, "When you get back, go out with me."

"No."

"One day you're going to say yes."

"And afterwards you'll wake up."

"Harsh, Ele," He puts a hand to his heart, sways closer, the tip of his Doc Martins nudging at the tips of her converse, "Say yes."

"I already said no."

"And normally I would back off," One of his hands drops to the railing behind her and she regrets taking her coat off because the bare skin of his forearm rubs against her elbow, and she gets goosebumps even though it's warm out and his touch burns. He ducks his head once again to meet her gaze and grins playfully, "But I see the way you look at me."

"Eduardo-"

"Edoardo."

" _Eduardo_ ," She pokes his chest, and he goes with the movement, puts a little bit of space between them and it's easier for her to breathe properly once again, "What are the chances I'm going to hear news of you with another girl in a few weeks, when you realize _this_ ," She waves a hand between them and his eyes follow the black of her nail polish, "Isn't so fun when I'm in another country?"

"Stupidly low," His voice is low, too, barely above a whisper as if they're having a private moment amidst the crowd of the party, "I'm not a fan of two girls at once."

"You currently have no girls."

"I have you."

"You don't," Eleonora's eyes flicker across the party-goers behind Edoardo's shoulders before meeting his, "Later, _Eduardo_." She saunters off with a confident floaty feeling knowing his eyes never leave her until she disappears into the crowd.

*

There wasn't a single part of her that thought he'd keep up his little game whilst she was away. Six months in a different country ought to have been enough time for Edoardo to get his head out of his own ass and grow tired of her getting his name wrong over and over again. Except, every single day without fail he would text her. Somehow, he'd developed a routine for them, and if Eleonora wasn't so adamant that he's just playing a long-winded game of 'find your way into her pants' then she would probably feel a little bit special. 

It had begun with a good night text for the first week, at exactly half-ten each night, and then it became a good morning text at exactly half-seven, just five minutes after her alarm would wake her up for class. She refuses to let herself overthink it, except for one night in the middle of a nightclub with her friends around her downing tequila like water. Italy's an hour ahead of London, and Ele lets herself revel in the fact that Edoardo would already be sat in his first-period class when he texts her good morning and stretched out in bed when he texts her goodnight. She lets herself text him goodnight just seconds after his nightly message pops up on her phone. The light from her screen mixes with the flashing lights of the club, and she adds an extra letter by mistake when someone nudges into her before she presses send.

And just like that, with a simple goodnight message from her, it's like a dam was broken and everything comes rushing in. He sends her updates regularly, screenshots of stupid things his friends have posted online, asks her questions about her day, about London, about classes and her new friends, and even starts texting her in English even though his English is just as bad as hers is.

There's only a few she responds to, but she reads them all. By the time she's on a plane back home, skin paler than when she left and her English only slightly better, her text threads with Edoardo are longer than her threads with Silvia and Fede. She still barely responds to them, but there was one point where she'd seen an Italian joke scrawled on a bathroom mirror and had sent him a picture of it after sending it to the girls' group chat. He'd commented about the joke, and then about the way she'd done her hair in a messy knot on top of her head that he could see from the corner of the mirror. Just three days afterwards he and his boys had found a restaurant in Rome with bad English anecdotes and riddles written in the walls and furniture - Eleonora would be lying if she wasn't a little pleased with the fact that he'd sent her a picture of him, clearly taken by a friend, crouched in front of a chalkboard filled with shitty English jokes, and would also be lying if she said she wasn't even more pleased that he'd only posted the same picture on Instagram after it had gotten her stamp of approval. 

When Silvia hands her the phone moments after Ele gets a screenshot of her Instagram post with the girls' reunion, eyebrows scrunched together and eyes curious, Ele remembers that the entire time she'd been smiling at stupid jokes from Edoardo, she'd never once thought of Silvia and how upset she'd gotten when Edoardo brushed her off like it was nothing. 

She calls him Eduardo once more when he picks her up, is probably too harsh on him at the dock, but there is a moment, just seconds before he rushes back to the car after the phone call when their eyes meet and a smile threatens to break across her face. His eyes had glanced down to her mouth, twinkled for a moment too, and she supposes there had been a slight grin there that she hadn't been able to hold back. 

*

The easter egg prank would be funny if Eleonora didn't have a million different emotions running through her as she dodges under elbows and around annoyed grumbles. She doesn't have a plan when she steps out into the rain, just registers that her hair clings to her cheeks as soon as it gets wet and that Edoardo's jacket looks so warm and his stupid hair gets even curlier when it's wet. 

She doesn't really know what she's saying, just knows that words are spilling out and she's annoyed, and she has to yell around the howl of the rain between them. 

"Are you done?" 

" _No_ , I'm not done!" She wants to reach out and shake him, call him Eduardo to get him annoyed and have his jaw tick again, but when she does reach out it's because they've met in the middle and his jaw only ticks when it's under her palm and their mouths meet. 

Kissing him feels so much better than Silvia had told them. His mouth is smooth but demanding against her own, brushes against her bottom lip as they both suck in harsh breathes, hands gliding over her shoulders, down her arms and waist, ghosting over her shorts before lodging themselves in her hair, steadying her head as he sets a punishing kiss to the curve of her jaw. 

"Eduardo," She huffs out when she's a little too dizzy to think straight.

He grunts against her mouth, bits her lip before pulling away to meet her gaze, "You know that's not my name."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He grins against her mouth and she laughs when his fingers dig into her ribs. 

**3 - Edo**

She goes home with him that night, finds herself wrapped in everything that smells like him. He lets her shower first as he preps tea and finds reruns of her favorite show. She doesn't remember telling him what she watches on TV, or that she prefers her ginger tea with half a spoon of sugar, but when she's cocooned in his blanket in his bed, tea in one hand, remote in the other, she figures he'd found out somehow, or he's just paying more attention to her than she thought he was. 

The first time she calls him Edo, it's close to five in the morning and they'd still not slept. The TV's playing quietly in the background, but they'd spent the better part of the past hour finding out their favorite colors, how old they were when they learned to tell the time or tie their own shoes, their favorite holidays, everything so stupidly irrelevant but no less exciting. His fingers are drifting up and down her thighs because the tee shirt and boxers he'd given her to wear leave her legs exposed and Edoardo's a tactile toucher, and her hands are coiling his curls around her fingers and watching them bounce when she lets go.

"Edo?"

There's a brief smile against her neck before he presses a kiss to her collar and hums in answer, "Ele."

"I'm sorry for the packing tape comment."

Hearing him laugh freely into her skin is ten times better than watching his jaw tick when she gets his name wrong.

*

She should talk to Silvia. She knows she should. Silvia's been nothing but a good friend to her and here Eleonora is, happily letting the boy her friend has a stupidly big crush on push her into his mattress and smother her reminders about their respective essays with his mouth. She's had weeks to tell Silvia, or Eva or Fede or Sana or _someone_ , but instead has been sneaking around with Edoardo and ignoring the fact that this makes her a _terrible_ friend. Edoardo insists she's not, that she's allowed to have her secrets, that the fact that she's kissing him doesn't mean she's betraying Silvia, but it's easier for him to say that than it is for her to believe it.

"Stop thinking," Edoardo whispers against her cheek, drags his mouth down her skin to nibble at her ear lobe, "Everything else can wait, pay attention to me."

"Your essay's due tomorrow," Eleonora goes with instead of mentioning her worries about Silvia. It's weird enough, kind of, knowing that her friend has already slept with the boy in front of her, that they know each other in that way and all Ele knows about him is that he likes when she scratches her nails against his skin and his scalp and that biting his lip mid-kiss makes him moan. She knows they didn't sleep together in this bed, in _his_ bed, but she really doesn't want to bring that up when he's pushing their chests together against his bedsheets and trying to untuck her shirt from her shorts.

She'd been adamant, before, that they stay on the couch, which didn't do much considering Edoardo's down to make out pretty much everywhere, but yesterday he'd wrangled her down the corridor and onto his bed with a proud little smirk and she's found that it's much more comfortable when she's not falling asleep in his leather jacket and blushing from the fact that he knows she chose to stay when she had an out.

"Ele," He whines, "I'm doing some of my best work here, and you want to talk about _essays_?"

"Edo," She mimicks his whine, tugs on the curls at the back of his head so he'll prop himself on his elbows and look down at her, "I'm not going to be the reason you fail History."

"You won't be," He murmurs, ignores her annoyed huff when he finds that spot on her neck that makes her fingers flex against his skin, "I'll take full responsibility for it."

"Sure," She giggles when his fingers finally wriggle under her shirt and skim the ticklish spot of her hip, "Mr. Ferna definitely won't mind you handing in two paragraphs because you were too busy making out to actually write the rest."

"He'll get it. He's a very understanding man." He hums, slides a knee between both of hers, tangles his free hand into her hair.

Kissing him that first time in the rain had been an argument without words. One second it was Edoardo in charge, pulling her closer, bruising her mouth and coaxing out breathy little moans, and then the next it was Eleonora's turn to bite his lip, dig her fingers into his hair and scratch at his scalp, direct his mouth the way she wanted it. It was a give and take in whatever way they wanted and only stopped when the ache of their necks and jaws became too much to ignore.

Right now, with Eleonora melting into his sheets and Edoardo keeping her trapped there, it's soft and slow and sweet and makes her head reel the exact same way. Giving in to the fact that Edoardo's not going to study no matter how hard she tries, Eleonora wraps her arms around his neck and accepts the kiss he plants on her mouth. 

"No more thinking?" He sucks a little at her bottom lip, eyes glinting with pride at having cracked her finally.

"Ten minutes and then we study," She throws back.

"Ele-"

"Edo."

He thinks for a moment, in which Ele hitches up one leg to wrap around his waist and then, just like that, he's grinning and not thinking anymore, "Deal."

*

The past few months have been too much for her to handle. She knows that, for the most part, she's not to blame, but she'd hidden away from the people that cared about her and created space when all she wanted was the exact opposite. There's no space, now, and she's more confident in the relationships she has once more than she ever was before, but that doesn't change the fact that it still hurts a little that she had wasted all that time.

There had been a brief moment, after the colour fight once that final bell rang, where everyone had stayed scaringly still when Nicco recommended cleaning up at Edo's and ordering take out. Eleonora could feel eyes on her when Edo had tucked her under his arm, and the sceptical looks when she had broken the silence to agree had reminded her of those days when she'd pushed everyone away and cried because she didn't _know_ what had happened.

Her boyfriend's house was supposed to be a safe place for her, for _him_ , and one night had suddenly turned it into the worst possible place for her to be. Edoardo had taken it all in stride, had left her in the car down the street when he needed to get fresh clothes, had reassured her that he loved staying at hers anyway, that she could never step foot in his house again and he wouldn't be offended as long as she was okay. 

And she hadn't. Three months after the incident, Eleonora had yet to find her way back into his home. Edoardo had bounced between his place, Federico's and Ele's, but had let it slip to Filo when they'd thought Ele was asleep that he didn't feel comfortable in his own home anymore, and it hurt Ele to know that he couldn't step foot into his bedroom without thinking about something that they thought had happened when he wasn't even there. 

He drives her over separately from the others. Federico has a key, she knows, so when Edo takes the longer route to his front door she doesn't complain. By the time they're in his driveway, the three cars everyone had piled into were dotted around the front of his house and she could see shadows of them moving around the front room. 

"Hey," She turns to meet his eyes, smiles softly at the tender look on his face when his hand finds the back of her head, "You don't have to. We can ditch them."

"I want to." She looks back at the front door, finds his free hand and grips on tight. He's going to Cornell in the fall she's desperate for time alone with him, without Filo on the other side of the wall, and the only thing stopping her from walking into a house that she otherwise loves is the memory of a threat and a drunken picture. Edo's read those messages, seen the picture, and yet this moment in the car where he waits patiently with his mouth at her temple, fingers curled in hers, feels more intimate than any naked picture. 

"I'm ready," She whispers, leans into his chest over the handbrake, "I just... I love them but... there's a lot of them and..."

"Okay," He whispers back, takes her hand as soon as they get out the car and leads them around the side of the house. Everyone's in the front rooms, listening to whatever music the boys have found and probably eating all of Edoardo's food, but his room at the back of the house is quiet and secluded. 

"Edo."

"I'm here," He doesn't complain when she presses a hard kiss to her mouth, just pushes his chest to hers, and places his palms on her cheeks as he matches her pace. "It's okay."

 _Nothing had happened_ , Eleonora reminds herself as she nudges Edoardo backward onto the bed. He doesn't fight her, or try and flip her to settle under him, just lets her sit on his lap and fight away the haze with new memories. Eventually, when her chest is only tight because Edoardo knows what he's doing with his mouth and his hands on her back and not because of memories of Andrea and cheap liquor, she leans forward to hover over Edoardo, then slowly turns them over until he's steadying his elbows on either side of her head and hitching her thighs over his hips.

They both need to shower and she knows that whatever coloured powder still left on their clothes will be leaving marks on his bedsheets and pillows, but for that moment they're alone and in his house and it feels so much like the first few times when they were sneaking around that Ele can't think of anything else but Edo.

*

Fede had made a joke a few days after Ele had told them all that she was dating Edoardo, that when they eventually had sex she'd have to tell them if it matched up to the picture that Silvia had oh-so-vividly painted for them. Silvia was pretty damn close if Eleonora really thinks about it, but even Silvia had said that a drunken one night stand couldn't compare to sleeping with your boyfriend after all the nightmares they've been dragged through. 

She'd been forced to listen to all the jokes about ditching a party midway through just to have sex, especially when anyone could have stumbled into his room at the time, but Edo had winked at her every time and made jokes right back. He'd gone away with his boys for part of the summer, had brought Ele for part of it at the beginning, and if she thought he'd been a tactile toucher before they'd slept together, she was proven wrong. His hand constantly found bare skin to touch - whether it was the back of her neck when they drank cocktails and laughed at Nicco's stories in Greece, or her hand as they strolled through Spain, or down the curve of her spine when he'd come back to Italy two weeks after Ele did and they reacquainted themselves with his bed. 

He flies out tomorrow to New York, and the week and a half that they've had together since he got back doesn't feel like enough time. She still has the boys, who'd all chosen against University or had decided on the one in Rome, and her girls and even Edo's Nonna; who'd insisted on dinner with the couple a few nights ago and had immediately welcomed Eleonora in; but it feels like a punishment knowing that her boyfriend will be on another continent, in another time zone, and they can't do anything about it.

"Come with me," He whispers now, curved around her back, lips against the curve of her shoulderblade, fingers tracing circles on her stomach, "Help me move in. Let me take you to the stupid parties they'll drag me to, let me show you off to everyone."

He's part of a group chat with his roommate and a few others on his floor, as well as another one for people on his course, and there's already one girl in both chats that's found his Instagram and gotten a little too friendly in the comments that makes Eleonora grind her teeth. She knows she has nothing to worry about because Edo's already told the group chat about her when they asked, had already posted a picture of the two of them as soon as that girl posted a heart-eyed emoji on his selfie - because he'd told her all those months ago that he's not a fan of two girls at once, had already proven he wants Eleonora and no one else.

"Edo-"

"Don't say no," He kisses her skin all the way up to the back of her neck, turns her by the hips to face him, aligns their bodies and slots their mouths together, "Come with me. Just for a few days. I don't want to say goodbye just yet."

And she really can't argue with him when he says things like that. 

*

Ithaca's too cold for Autumn and Edoardo's only annoyed by it because Eleonora's taken to sleeping in his hoodies rather than the thin shirts Edo's used to. His roommate seems to be glad for it, teases Edo about it constantly - effectively establishing a friendship with Eleonora - but does leave them the second night in to go find a hook up at the frat party a few blocks over. 

"Stop, Edo, it's cold," She whines as his ice-cold fingers slide under her hoodie and tug the drawstrings of her sweatpants out of the bow she'd laced them in. 

"Mhm," He hums anyway, tries to hide the smug grin on his face when the hoodie eventually falls to the floor but fails miserably when he's in the process of unhooking her bralette and Ele spots it. She shoots a kick to his thigh which effectively knocks him off-kilter and he stumbles off the bed with a grunt. They'd had a lazy day after grocery shopping for Edo that morning, so there's still a few bags of clothes and a huge suitcase for him to unpack that he trips over on his way to lock the door. 

"You going to respond to my texts this time?" He says, sliding his shirt off easily before climbing back into bed. 

"Hm?"

"When you get back to Italy," He murmurs against her cheek, hands in her hair, biting his lip when she scratches her nails down towards the dimples at the bottom of his spine, "Or are we going back to when you were in London and I get one message a month at best."

"For making me undress in this cold you're lucky if you get one message at all." 

He rolls his eyes with a playful chuckle but slides over her and brings his duvet over their heads to fight the cold as he kisses down her neck and stomach.

**4 - Edward, Eddie, Ed**

She calls him Edward because he hates it and when they're on Skype he can't do anything but stick his tongue out at her and pout. 

"It's not fair," He whines one night, and not for the first time. Ele's in his bed, wrapped in his sheets with his TV playing in the background, wearing her own clothes this time but with one of his chains around her neck that he gave her for Christmas. He'd argued that he gave her a key to his place so she could water the plants she'd insisted he keep to liven up the place, and also because his Nonna is always over making new food and biscuits and Ele's currently being taught how to make those cookies Edo had given her that night on the dock. He'd argued that he's glad she feels comfortable in his home again but it's not fair to rub it in his face that he's miles away and she's wrapped in his favorite blanket and clogging up his recorded list on TV with her shows. 

"What is it this time?"

"You calling me Edward. It's not fair." The airport lounge behind him seems close to empty but there's a distant hum from his end of the line cut off by his headphones. 

"Technically," She teases, using his pillow to keep her phone upright as she turns onto her back, "That's your name. Google it."

"I did," He grumbles, "And yours, too. Eleanor or Eleonora. Why do the English hate me?"

"You have shitty hair."

"Hey!" 

He doesn't laugh with her but she spots the grin on his face anyway. 

"You'll be home soon." She smiles, "I promise I won't call you Edward to your face."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

*

"I'm breaking up with you."

" _Oh, Eddie_ , don't be like that-"

"That's it, we're over. Find your own way home, you traitor-" He grumbles even when he drops his backpack to the floor and wraps his arms around Ele's waist. Nicco snatches the large banner away from her just before Edoardo crushes their chests together in a bone-crushing hug. Finally wrapping her arms around him after three excruciatingly long months feels so much better than she'd hoped for, so she saves the jokes in favour of burying her nose into the dip where his neck meets his shoulder and breathes him in. 

"Thanks for the sign, I hate it," He mutters into her cheek and she has to laugh because the sign's huge and her and the boys purposely made it as ugly as they could. It's pink and sparkly, with a doodle of his hair in every corner, and the name Eddie scrawled obnoxiously large in hot pink right in the center. He'll be pissed when he gets in his car and notice that some glitter fell off on the drive over and decorated the back seat, but Nicco had already said that if they drive alone he won't yell because _obviously_ he'll blame the boys and everyone under the sun before he ever blames Eleonora. 

"I promised I wouldn't call you Edward."

"Oh for the love of God."

*

They get dinner as a large group as a celebratory event. The girls have finally finished school, the boys have finished their first year at University, some of them have new jobs lined up for the upcoming weeks, others have University in August, but they're all back together as a whole team for the first time since the boys graduated and that's enough reason to celebrate. 

Edoardo's sat them right at the end of the table, Luca next to Edoardo and Silvia next to Eleonora, and his hand has never once left the back of her neck since they sat down. He leans into her now, smoothing a kiss to her cheek as she takes a sip from the cocktail Fede had forced next to her plate. 

"Hey," He grins and Ele pulls herself out of the group's conversation to knock their foreheads together and smile right back. Nico and Martino have been enveloped in their own little bubble on the opposite end of the table for the past ten minutes anyway, so Ele doesn't feel too bad about ignoring the laughs from whatever joke was just told. 

"Hi," She presses a short kiss to his lips, "I missed you."

"What a coincidence," He brings her back in for another kiss, smiles against her mouth when she nods a little, "I missed you too."

"Convenient." She mumbles against the stubble on his chin and he chuckles. 

Dinner lasts a few hours, and then they find a new bar on their way back home and the boys insist on a few drinks, so by the time Edo finally gets to drop his suitcase back into his own room it's around three in the morning and there's a soft hum of alcohol through Ele's mind. 

"Do we really have to do it all again?" She asks, toeing off her boots and unbuttoning her shorts. Edoardo's watching her movements with unhidden interest, but she knows they're both too tired to do anything other than appreciate the other as they slowly undress. 

"Just three more years," He sighs, joining her under the covers as soon as he's kicked his jeans away, "Unless you're planning on coming to America for University."

"Edo, you know I haven't-"

"Ha!" He's suddenly awake, pushed up to his elbows to grin smugly at her, eyes dancing, "You called me Edo!"

"Did I?" She leans back, feigning ignorance, "Sorry, Ed, I really didn't mean to."

"Eleonora." He huffs.

"Ed."

"I wasn't joking, I _will_ break up with you," He grunts, bats her hands away when she reaches for him but does turn towards her so he's propped on one elbow. 

"I've been getting your name wrong for as long as I've known you," She points out, trying to hide a yawn.

"Yes but now Fede's calling me Eddie unironically," He falls down next to her and doesn't push her away when she curls under his arm to rest against his chest. His skin's warm against hers and his fingers leave blazing trails along the path he's drawing on her waist, "Even Nonna's calling me Edward."

"We'll go to the embassy tomorrow and legally change it," She mumbles, kissing his chest and closing her eyes.

**5 - Edoardo Incanti**

He's been away for seven months; it's been long and stressful, and when the stress for both of them got too much they'd argue and angrily hang up the Skype call mid-sentence, but the distance has taught them a lot and she wouldn't change it for the world. 

Now, he's _graduating_. He's an ivy-league graduate, and his apartment is all packed up and he's coming to the airport with her tomorrow and moving back home for good. There's not going to be any more goodbyes at airports and waiting for months until their semesters finished and one of them could fly over for a week at a time. He's going to move home, into an apartment that they share, with a bed they share and a bathroom and a kitchen that they _also_ share.

That is if the graduation ceremony picks up the pace a little. They'd all flown out for it, every single one of them, so when his name is finally called they all completely ignore the 'wait until the end' rule and jump up, cheering and whooping way too loudly to be considered appropriate. Even his Nonna is up on her feet, cheering alongside them as Edoardo laughs on stage and waves in their direction. 

They have banners for when they get to take pictures in front of the Cornell sign, every one of them a different nickname he's been given over the years, but when he finally finds them on the field outside and Nonna pushes Eleonora to be the first to reach him, all she can do is smile wildly as he crushes her in a hug that lifts her off the ground.

"Edoardo Incanti, Cornell Graduate."

He hums with a smile against her skin, dropping a succession of kisses in the same spot there, seemingly ignoring the hoards of people shoving past them as he curves his hand around the back of her thigh to wrap her legs around his waist.

"You ready to live with me now?"

"Absolutely."

*

"Edoardo Incanti, put that thing down or so help me God."

"I'm not even doing anything!"

"I'm _looking_ at you doing something!"

He stays stood on the counter, chin tucked down a little so the top of his head doesn't skim the ceiling, that expensive glass bowl from Ele's mother in his hand. He currently looks like a child in the middle of being scolded, and the absolute absurdity of having to _parent_ her boyfriend of four and a half years is making Ele's headache even worse. 

He finally cracks after being stared down, "Ele, it's so _ugly_."

"It's a gift."

"If it falls off the counter it's an accident," He waves it slightly in her direction, "And let's be real, she's never going to come here and never has to know."

"So, what happens? It falls off the counter magically when we weren't paying attention?"

"Absolutely could happen, that guy three floors up thinks this place is haunted."

"Edo-"

"Fine," He huffs, jumping back to the floor and setting the bowl on the counter. 

"Thank you," She slides into the space between his feet and leans up to give him a kiss, "I know it's ugly, but at least she remembered."

"How come no one else sent us a house warming gift?"

"Your nonna paid the deposit and everyone else is bringing take out and alcohol later tonight. Filo also promised to never use his key as a way to get in with a hook up should we ever leave town."

"Thank god."

By the time everyone finds their way into their new apartment, they've finally packed everything away and successfully made out on the couch for a solid minute before Fede had started pounding on the door. It's loud and packed in their apartment, and almost feels like the parties the boys threw back in school, but this time when Ele finds a corner to take a moment to breathe in, and Edoardo closes in on her personal space with a playful grin, it doesn't feel as new and excitingly terrifying as it used to, just normal and terrifyingly exciting. 

"You know," His arms wind around her shoulders and pull her into his chest, "I knew we would get here."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah," He drops a kiss to her hairline, "The second you made fun of my hair, I knew. And then you went to London," She closes her eyes as she talks, focuses on the rumble in his chest against hers and the way his lips scrape against her forehead as he talks, "You'd been there for four months and three days, and only responded to one of my texts. Fede was there when you did, he made fun of me for _weeks_ after I got all excited about it. And then you sent me that joke on the mirror, remember? I honestly thought you'd sent me a selfie, and then I saw the joke and- _God_ , it was pathetic how excited I got knowing you'd thought about me. I knew I was going to marry you that day."

"What?" When she tilts her head back to look at him, his eyes are so sincere and tender it makes her heart stop for a brief second. 

"Just don't tell the boys because they'll high jack the invitations and just use a screenshot of it."

"Well, now I'm telling them."

He laughs as he bends to kiss her, but suddenly there's a commotion in the kitchen and the sound of glass crashing to the floor.

"Edo! I did it!"

Her eyes snap open and she glares at her boyfriend. He at least has the dignity to sigh and duck his head.

" _Edoardo Incanti_ , did you get your friends to break my mother's bowl-"


End file.
